Anaheim Appeals $3.4-Million Tax Bill for The Pond

ANAHEIM —  City officials said Thursday they believe the county’s $3.4-million property tax assessment of The Pond is about $3 million too high, and they are appealing it.

The city-owned arena is operated by a private company, but Anaheim is obligated to pay anything above $400,000 in annual property taxes, according to their operating agreement with Ogden Entertainment.

City officials had not anticipated having to pay any taxes on The Pond, so when the large tax bills began coming in late last year, they were taken by surprise, said Greg Smith, manager of Anaheim Stadium and the Convention Center and who also oversees operations of the arena for the city.

“We believe that the methodology used for calculating the tax for the arena is in error,” Smith said. “We thought it should be $400,000 a year and we haven’t changed from that opinion.”

Although the city has filed an appeal, officials have already paid the money to avoid any fines.

“Meanwhile, the county sits on our money,” Smith said.

City-owned facilities such as The Pond are usually tax exempt, but a tax must be paid in this instance, because the arena is under lease to and operated by Ogden. The tax is based not only on the property value, but also on how much the private company is believed to make from the property--an amount that the county estimates to be $139 million, Smith said.

“The assessment must obviously be less,” Smith said. “The operator right now does not make a lot of money off of the arena, so that should be taken into consideration in the assessment of taxes, and it is not.”

Smith said the size of the county’s tax bills are also a blow to the city’s efforts to bring more professional sports franchises to Anaheim.

“All this support we’re told we have, and it ends up in tax bills,” Smith complained. “I think Anaheim wants to pay its fair share, and we are not asking that the taxes be forgiven. We just want to pay what is fair.”

County officials declined to comment on the situation.